Now in its 29th Year, Glorious Annual Flower Exhibition’s Total Net Proceeds for Fine Arts Museums are Projected at $5.5 million

SAN FRANCISCO (January 9, 2013)—More than 125 of the Bay Area’s most innovative and sought after floral designers will create a spectacular array of floral arrangements in the de Young Museum for Bouquets to Art 2013. In creating their arrangements, these designers pay tribute to and draw inspiration from the art in the de Young’s permanent collections. The annual five-day event that showcases floral designs ranging from the stunningly simple to the elaborately intricate, attracts a large and enthusiastic following from the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Bouquets to Art 2013 launches on Monday, March 18, with “The Golden Age,” the opening night gala and preview. The festive evening includes a sumptuous buffet by McCalls, music by the Dick Bright Orchestra, and the first viewing of the floral arrangements. The following days feature lively and engaging floral demonstrations by both local and nationally acclaimed floral designers, elegant seated luncheons by McCalls on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday—and for the first time this year, a champagne brunch on Saturday—that complement the flower-bedecked galleries and public spaces in the museum. Bouquets to Art 2013 concludes on Saturday afternoon, March 23, with a raffle drawing of deluxe prizes that include jewelry, travel packages and other luxury items. All proceeds from the event benefit the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

29 Years of Bouquets to ArtIn the 29 years since its inception, this popular and much anticipated event presented by the volunteer members of the San Francisco Auxiliary of the Fine Arts Museums, has drawn nearly 642,000 visitors and as of this year, its projected total net proceeds are $5.5 million. Funds from Bouquets to Art have been used to help underwrite an impressive roster of special exhibitions, art acquisitions, educational programs and special projects at the Legion of Honor and the de Young Museum. Proceeds from Bouquets to Art 2012 were used to fund, in part, the landmark exhibition Royal Treasures from the Louvre: Louis XIV to Marie-Antoinette, on view at the Legion of Honor through March 17, 2013. This exhibition provides visitors the rare opportunity to view some of the most splendid examples from former royal collections housed in the Musée du Louvre’s Département des Objets d’art. The objects on view are seldom, if ever lent, and many of them had never before left France.

Other recent exhibitions supported by Bouquets to Art include Masters of Venice: Renaissance Painters of Passion and Power from the Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, 2012; Balenciaga and Spain, 2011; the two Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay exhibitions in 2010; The State Museums of Berlin and the Legacy of James Simon, 2008; Marie-Antoinette and the Petit Trianon at Versailles, 2007; and International Arts and Crafts: William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright, 2005.

Among the many superb and varied acquisitions made possible with funds from Bouquets to Art are the Crown Point Press Archive, a rare Nimrud ivory from Mesopotamia dating from the 8–9th-century B.C., an exceptional early 20th-century French glass vase by Emile Galle, a Paracas turban and a Naxca Colombian woven band. In addition, the Fine Arts Museums’ Conservation and Education departments regularly receive support from Bouquets to Art for specific projects as well as gifts of unrestricted funds.

Bouquets to Art 2013 TicketingGeneral admission allows access to all floral exhibits located in the permanent collection galleries. Tickets go on sale Friday, January 22, 2013. $20 Adults; $17 Seniors (65 and above); $16 Youths 6–17; Members and children 5 and under are free. General admission tickets may be purchased in advance either online or in person at the museum box office during regular museum hours. Advance tickets are required for the luncheons, champagne brunch, and floral demonstrations. For more information and to order tickets, go to deyoungmuseum.org/bouquets.